


Meanwhile Back on the Farm

by alexcat



Series: After the World Ends [11]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Post-Canon Fix-It, the soul stone thinks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-10-22 07:37:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17658683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexcat/pseuds/alexcat
Summary: Thor and Natasha mount a rescue of sorts while Tony and Nebula have an idea.





	Meanwhile Back on the Farm

Meanwhile Back on the Farm 

Part Eleven 

Thanos was already growing bored in his newly earned retirement. Titan was beautiful again, but he was alone. Going back in time had not repopulated his planet. He missed his children, even the ones who betrayed him. Especially Nebula and Gamora. He looked up at the suns and frowned. What was he to do now? 

The gauntlet lay in his home, removed when he’d arrived and disregarded on a table. He hadn’t even looked at it since he was done with it. He never noticed the orange stone seemed to glow at different times. It also vibrated at little now and again. It was busy, very busy, plotting how to get those other souls, the ones it wanted. 

Perhaps it could send out a signal…

*

Tony and Nebula worked on the little ship, repairing the damages, most of which didn’t affect the engines but rather the handling. Tony could remember they’d had a rough ride. Nebula still scared him a little, but she seemed calmer now. 

And she seemed to have a crush on Steve. 

Steve had been unfailingly kind to her. Tony could certainly understand someone being in love with him. He was. He had to share much of him with the world; he wasn’t sharing with Nebula. He hoped it didn’t come to a battle with her. He wasn’t sure he could win. 

As he was about to mention something to her about him and Steve, Rocket walked up.

“Do you morons need a real engineer to help out?” 

It had not taken anyone long to understand the foul mouthed Rocket was really a fairly decent person under that mouth. 

Nebula frowned at him. “Are you really here to help or do you wish me to squash you like a bug?” 

“Nah. I need to get back out there though. This earth stuff is making me soft. Little wonder that Quill was such a pussy.” 

Stark looked at him. It was still hard to wrap his head around a talking raccoon. “We need to figure out a substitute fuel source for the ship. Any ideas?”

“We need something lightweight. I understand that earth has thermonuclear technology, but that’s certainly an unstable fuel source. And your transportation here uses liquid gasses! How primitive can you get? No wonder you all haven’t gone to space yet.”

“That isn’t helping. We already knew all that. What about my arc reactor?” 

“The thing that used to be in your chest?” Rocket looked pensive. “You used it for your suit?” 

“We use it for energy as well. It creates a clean energy.”

“Can it fuel a ship?” Nebula asked him. 

“Possibly. It’s a miniature Multi-Isotope Radio-Decay Cell. I made the original of Palladium, but then I made the next one of Vibranium, which works even better.”

“Can you make one here?” she asked.

“Yes. As long as I can use some of the Wakandans’ Vibranium. There is a small one that powers my suit, and Stark Tower in New York runs on one as well. I can put the tower back on the regular power grid, thought it might strain it a bit.”

“How long to build one?” Rocket asked.

“A few days with the materials here, and your help,” Stark told him. 

“Let’s go ask the queen for the Vibranium, then,” Rocket said. 

Tony didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of it before. It was a simple and beautiful solution to the problem. 

*

Carol Danvers felt a pull to go to earth. It made no sense to her. Her people needed her yet here she was, longing to go to a place that she’d left long ago. 

She had arrived home to find half of the people gone, inexplicably gone. They had suddenly turned to dust. Those who were left were working on it. Many had known that the mad Titan, Thanos had been up to something for years, but no one knew what. Carol suspected this was it. 

But why? 

She needed to find out. Satisfied that her own people could maintain order in their society, she made the decision to go to earth, to find out what Nick Fury’s SOS meant. Even at FTL, it would take several days to arrive at Earth. There was no point in contacting Nick until she got closer. 

She boarded her ship and was on the way two days after she arrived home. 

*

Thor and Natasha simply ‘arrived’ at Barton’s home in the country. It was located in western Pennsylvania, close to a small town but not so close that anyone would see or notice their unorthodox arrival. Lila ran out of the house and jumped into Natasha’s arms. 

“Aunt Nat!” She looked over at Thor and smiled at him. “You’re one of Daddy’s friends. Come in. Hurry. Daddy is burning the house up!” 

They all hurried into the lovely old farmhouse. There was smoke all over the place and Clint was fanning the oven. He looked up when Thor and Natasha came in. He’d aged years over the last few weeks, or so it seemed to Natasha. 

“Hello, Clint. Thor and I have come to help. What do you want us to do?” 

“Fix this damn mess. Bring my Laura back!”

Natasha answered him in a calm voice. “Tony and Steve are working on that. We figured you could use a hand with the kids.”

“Go into town and get some dinner for these kids. That would be a start.” 

“Pizza work? A Happy Meal for Nate?” Natasha asked. 

Clint nodded. 

She and Thor went in the old beat up pickup truck parked in front of the house. They got pizza, a burger for the least Barton and headed back. Clint had cleaned up the house and aired it out by the time they got back. Lila and Cooper wanted to sit with Thor so they sat on either side of him while Nate was in high chair, his father and Natasha by his sides. 

“Mr. Thor. How did you and Aunt Nat get here? I didn’t see a car.” Lila was ever the observant one. 

“I – uh, we sort of flew.” 

Nat grinned. “My friends have special talents, Lila.”

“Is Aunt Nat your girlfriend? Where’s Mr. Banner?” 

Clint looked too tired to deal with it all. He stared at his plate and ate pizza. 

“Natasha is my girlfriend. Banner is with the other Avengers. We decided to visit you and your brothers.” 

“Good. Daddy is sad since Mama left. We think she went to visit her cousin in Hawaii. Daddy says she forgot her phone.” She gave a hard glance at her father. Even Thor picked up on the fact that Lila wasn’t buying a word of it.

“I am sure she will call when she finds a new phone. Lots of phones have stopped working lately,” Thor said and Lila nodded. 

After dinner, Thor went to the den with the children to watch tv before bath and bed time, while Natasha stayed in the kitchen to help Clint clean up.

“How are _you_ doing?” she asked, making him look at her by getting in his face. 

“I’m not. I’m – I am lost. Where the hell is she? Dead? Did you all cause this? Can Stark fix it?” 

“Thanos did it and we don’t think any of them are dead. We think we can find them eventually.”

“Eventually don’t do me any damned good. I’ve got three motherless kids and no idea what to tell them.” 

“What makes you think they don’t know? Lila clearly knows something is afoot.”

He rubbed his face idly. “Maybe. But that doesn’t fix anything.”

“They really are working on it, Clint, and I believe they will bring her and all the others back. I’m here to help you until that happens.”

Clint was a tough man and his family was everything to him. Losing Laura in such a way had simply pulled the rug from under him. He felt helpless and that made him angry. 

“You’d better be telling me the truth, Romanov.” An angry Clint could be dangerous. 

She hugged him. “I’d never lie to you, Barton. You know that.” 

And he did.


End file.
